Key East
'"Key East" '''is the third episode of ''Gingerbread Chronicles, and the third overall episode. It was told and narrated by Nutty, premiering on December 24, 2013, the Christmas special. In the episode, beautiful vacation spot turned home for the Normalifes becomes hell when they learn of a curse on their new home. This is the first episode to feature Katarina. The Episode The tides rolled delicately on the sandy beaches of the Gingerbread Empire’s most popular tourist destination: Key East. The new occupants of the quaint beachside home, David and Margaret Normalife, sipped hot cider on the balcony overlooking their front yard. Jack, their son, was sleeping inside. He wasn’t Margaret’s son, however, but David’s from his first marriage. Downstairs, the doorbell rang. A plump woman stood with a sloppy chocolate cake and goofy grin. “Welcome to the neighborhood!” she said. Margaret couldn’t help but roll her eyes. David welcomed the woman, Ethel, inside. “I love how you decorated the living room,” she said dreamily. Margaret smiled politely. “I’ll go put the cake in the fridge,” Margaret said and shuffled away. David sat across from Ethel. “How long have you lived on the Keys?” “Oh,” Ethel said, thinking, “I’d say about fifty-nine years.” “Wow!” “Yes sir. I’ve seen the goods, the bads, and the curses.” David lifted his eyebrows. “The curses?” “Oh yes, sweetie. Your house is more cursed than Disney’s Haunted Mansion.” David stared. He hated curses. And ghosts. Scooby-Doo was braver than him. “W-what do you mean?” Ethel suddenly got excited. “Everyone who owned this house died in it.” “Of old age?” David asked hopefully. Ethel crowed. “No. Like murdered. Suicide. Decapitation. Whatever. It was always just kind of funny.” “FUNNY?!” “Stop interrupting. Anyways, about seven months ago, it got really really bad…the house was vacant for about thirteen years. The rumors of the curse had spread across the Empire. Eventually, it was bought by a woman named Katarina. She moved in with a man named Yousef Impal and his son Yugo. They were reportedly lovers. One day, Yugo went out to play. He never came back. Everyone thought he fell in the ocean and drowned. There was only so much that could have happened to him. I personally said he was crushed by a fallen coconut. Anywhoozle, eventually they gave up their search. Katarina and Yousef accepted Yugo’s disappearance as a death. But then… “Yousef disappeared too. They found his body washed up on the shore with a carrot in his mouth. Katarina fled and never returned. The next residents disappeared too. Only they found them in your storm cellar. Apparently they tried to get out during a storm or something.” Ethel laughed. “Poor tykes.” David stared open mouthed. Ethel squirmed uncomfortably. --- In the kitchen, Margaret listened with a pounding heart to the conversation in the living room. A curse? A dead child? A stack of skeletons in their basement? What kind of home did David buy? Was this place safe for his son? Jack. Margaret slipped upstairs. In Jack’s bedroom, she found the covers stripped off, the mattress ripped, the window smashed, and Jack gone. --- The search lasted six weeks. After the first two weeks proved hopeless, Margaret gave up, spending her time across the Empire. David, however, never slept. He hardly ate. His body deteriorated as he searched endlessly for his son. At the end of the six week manhunt, the police determined Jack’s disappearance was a likely suicide or accidental death. David sold the cursed house. Margaret divorced David in those later weeks, fed up with his depression. David packed her things the day he was leaving Key East. He set the box of her belongings on the doorstep. “Thank you, David.” “I miss you, Maggie.” Margaret did not respond. She glanced at the snowman in the yard. Jack made it the day before he disappeared. It was modeled after the porcelain snowman decoration on the front porch. David caught her gaze. “You miss him too?” he asked as tears welled up. Margaret said nothing. She looked around the foliage. David whimpered and lumbered toward the porcelain snowman. “Uh…David…” Margaret said, taking a step forward. David tripped and knocked the head off the snowman. He was showered in red liquid. Blood. Margaret pointed a gun at her ex-husband. “Up.” David was screaming. Margaret clamped a hand over his mouth. She forced his hands over his head and into the yard. He trembled. “Maggie…” “Don’t call me that.” “I…” Margaret Normalife pushed David into the middle of the front yard, his back to Jack’s snowman. “Goodbye, David. I never wanted you. But you’ve helped me in a way you’ll never know.” She squeezed the trigger. The gun roared. David’s face exploded, sending him toppling backward into the snowman, removing the outer layer of snow that concealed his own son. The father and son lay reunited at last in death. As Margaret fled the scene, her wig flew off, revealing long, sleek, black hair. Katarina. Production Concept As with its predecessor, this episode was not intended to be anything more than a standalone episode. Though the ending was not definitive or conclusive, Katarina was never supposed to be anything more than a cruel Russian woman. Continuity Katarina and David Normalife's relationship is referenced in Fantasyland. Furthermore, Key East is commonly alluded to as a vacation destination. Revision As with all of Season 1, the episodes were never recorded nor documented. Production teams have gone back to revive the lost episodes, but they are not told in the same way they were originally. The episode written above is the third to be revived, and generally the weakest. Category:Episodes Category:Gingerbread Chronicles Episodes